Osasuna 1 - 2 Espanyol

Not much to say about this game, only that Espanyol seemed to be completely in control during the first half and that the second period brought as many chances for the 0-3 as for a comeback by Osasuna. The last 15 minutes were nervy but could have been much worse if the assistant referee hadn't signalled offside when Vela scored.

Enjoy the goals, it is a pity we could not find a better video to upload and that it doesn't show the whole play for the 0-1. Valdo had a great game, apparently.

Osasuna: Ricardo, Azpilicueta, Cruchaga, M. Flaño, Corrales, Puñal, J. García (46'), Juanfran (71'), Pandiani (56'), Font, Dady, Elía, Izquierdo, Echaide, Plasil (71'), H. Viana, Vela (46'), Portillo (56').

Espanyol: Kameni, Lacruz (89'), Jarque, Torrejón, Clemente, Ángel (78'), Moisés, Valdo, Luis García, Riera (61'), Tamudo, Lafuente, Chica (89'), Lola (78'), Jónatas, Moha (61'), Coro, Jonathan.

Goals:
0-1 (29'): Ángel scores after a great play started by Luis García, then Riera crosses and Valdo assists.
0-2 (32'): Valdo's amazing solo effort dribbling twice in the area
1-2 (75'): Portillo scores after a cross from Vela.

Referee: Turienzo Álvarez, Castile and Leon.
Yellow Cards: Amonestó a Ángel (17'), Riera (17'), M. Flaño (43') y Valdo (90').

Attendance: 16,004 espectadores, with 1,000 away fans, which is quite a lot for Spain considering the distance.

Source: rojadirecta.com

Today's lineups

Espanyol-Osasuna kicks off today at 4 pm UK time. The match is not on British TV. In my opinion, the best commentary to follow for an English speaker is Marca's (whose website provides this picture).

This team can qualify for a major tournament

That's right, because Espanyol are in fifth place in a UEFA Cup spot, and only two points behind Valencia for a Champions League place. Word is the FA is desperately trying to find British citizenship for Tamudo and Riera...

This Sunday at 16.00 UK time, Espanyol will travel to Pamplona in Navarre and play Osasuna. Former Espanyol striker Walter Pandiani will face his teammates for the first time since he moved from Espanyol at the end of last season.

Ernesto Valverde said: "He is a great striker. He's always been a professional when he's played and when he's trained. He'll play with extra motivation against us. He still has many friends here and he'll get together with us before the game."

For Valverde, Pandiani adapts well to the style of the Navarrese. "He works well for them, since Osasuna play on the flanks and cross the ball into the box. He's a great header of the ball."

El Mundo Deportivo link

Meanwhile, the issue of buying another striker has come up. Over the past week, Valverde presented a report to the club's board of directors on certain young strikers from Brazil and Argentina. The club has been openly looking to buy a young goal scorer for several months now. The talent search will intensify soon, although the club may have to resort to a loan from one of their shareholders to finance the purchase, as money has been tight for a couple of years now.

However, the club says it has no immediate plans to buy a striker, as there is no emergency. But striker Jonathan (Soriano)'s future at the club is in doubt, as he's not had enough playing time and any new striker would likely lead to his departure. When asked about Jonathan, Valverde simply replied, "He will have more opportunities."

El Mundo Deportivo link

The new stadium is dominating Espanyol's headlines at the moment. The club believe the new ground will catapult them upward to a stronger financial position and into a consistent top six club. To raise more funds, the club are looking to sell the ground's name to a sponsor, which could raise up to 4.5 million euros per year. Operating the new stadium could provide Espanyol with an extra 10 million euros per year in revenue, a quarter of the club's overall budget.

“This is a world-wide project”, said executive director Pedro Tomás, “and a pioneer at Spanish and even European level in many aspects”. Cornella-El Prat would be the first ground in Spain to be sponsored from its inception. The board meeting last night was attended by Jose Luis Astiazarán, president of Liga de Professional Fútbol, who declared he was “impressed” by the Espanyol project. Astiazarán said that “several clubs are already looking to emulate Espanyol in building new stadiums”.

Sport link

Unfortunately this game is not on either British or American television, so the best way to follow it is through text commentary.

Oh, and lastly, there's some match next weekend, but I can't remember what..a derbi? Hmm..

RCD Espanyol 2 - 1 Athletic Club

Another game Espanyol manages to start one nil down. A free kick from the half way line ended up being a clear chance in the middle of the area with nobody around for Gabilondo, and Espanyol were losing in the second minute. Concentration problems are being a real worry. Yes, the team has managed to come back time and time again, but there have also been quite a few points being lost in five minutes off.

The team recovered in style, piling on the pressure in what was probably the best game after the wins against Valencia and Real Madrid. Athletic had just about half a chance for the rest of the game, but make no mistake, this team is much better than the one they had during the last couple of seasons, and it was not going to be easy.

Before halftime the very much needed equaliser came after a pass by Luis García to Riera on the left turned into a cross put in the back of the net by... Who else? The captain Raul Tamudo with his 118th goal in La Liga. Riera was one of the best players of the game, with a couple of great chances he made by himself, beating his man time and time again. Very good news to see that the Spain player's showings in the last two games were not part of a dip in form.

After the goal there were five manic minutes that did not have their reward. Espanyol kept the rhythm going for the second half, even improving. But Athletic were also on the pitch and they also got better in defence even if that was by forgetting of anything to do with attack except for a chance after a defensive error in the beginning of the second period.

And then, after several chances that came to nothing, in the 90th minute Clemente put a very speculative cross that ended up looking very good for Luis García. Especially after Gorka Iraizoz came wildly out his line reminding yours truly of his error in Bremen that had us agonising in the stands for almost an hour. Aitor Ocio, one of the best for Athletic yesterday, tried to clear and ended up scoring on his own net with a very nice chip. As I said, quite similar to Bremen. Only Gorka plays for Athletic now.

RCD Espanyol are fifth going into the break for the Euro qualifiers, just two points off the Champions League qualifying spots. And the second game after the break is the derby, at home. We'll see.

Espanyol: Kameni, Zabaleta, Jarque, Torrejón, Clemente, Moisés, De la Peña (90'), Valdo (63'), L. García (90'), Riera, Tamudo, Lafuente, Jonathan, Moha, Jónatas (63'), Chica, Lacruz (90'), Lola (90')

Athletic: Iraizoz, Ustaritz, Amorebieta, Aitor Ocio, Koikili, Iraola, Javi Martínez, Orbaiz (45'), Gabilondo, Etxeberria (88'), Aduriz (64'), Aranzubia, Yeste, Muñoz, Prieto (88'), Del Horno, Llorente (64'), D. López (45')

Goals:
0-1 (3'): Gabilondo, with his left foot.
1-1 (39'): Tamudo. Riera gave the assist.
2-1 (90'): Aitor Ocio. Own goal when trying to clear a cross by Clemente.

Referee: Ramírez Dominguez, Andalucia.
Yellow Cards: De la Peña (44'), Clemente (58'), Koikili (61'), Luis García (61'), Riera (63'), Javi Martínez (84') y Jarque (90').

Attendance: 24.800.

PS- The video is from the Basque TV. It is ok, but obviously from the Athletic point of view.

Espanyol-Athletic

Oh, bugger. I had a nice long post with news about the match tomorrow and one wrong click and it's gone.

Basically Gorka Iraizoz is coming back to Espanyol tomorrow as Athletic's goalkeeper. Espanyol's goalkeeper for the past five years has some mixed feelings, saying that he never expected to play against Espanyol and that it is surreal.

Luis Garcia has come out against rotation, but reminded the public it was the coach's decision. He felt fit enough to play every game, and said that the ultimate goal was to play for the team's benefit. He's been receiving some attention for the Premiership as well, with Sport claiming his agent has been receiving calls from the Premiership about the Asturian forward.

And it's one year to the day until Espanyol's new ground at Cornella-El Prat is completed. Three years ago, president Daniel Sanchez Llibre exhorted the workers to "Start, already!" as they began building a replacement for the club's beloved Sarria. The new ground, costing a pretty modest sum of 53 million euros, will seat 40,000 and the club are looking at securing UEFA 4-star status, allowing the new ground to host UEFA Cup finals (perhaps ones involving Espanyol?). Despite Llibre and fans unofficially calling the ground Nou Sarria, a sponsor will pay for the ground's name to help offset costs. The club expect to begin playing at the Nou Sarria in January 2009.

Finally, tomorrow's game is at 4 p.m. UK time, and is not on Sky. If the wonders of the Internet cannot find a picture, Marca has the best text commentary, in your author's opinion.

The buildup to Espanyol-Athletic

Tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the UK (8 a.m. in the USA), Espanyol are home to Athletic Bilbao. Athletic are doing better than they did last year and are sitting in 12th with 13 points. One of the subplots to this game is the return of Gorka Iraizoz, the former Espanyol goalkeeper who is now with Athletic.

"It's different, special, rare.... I am going to play against my former club who I played with for five years, so for me it is a very special game. For me it is surreal, because I never imagined playing there."

Marca link (in Spanish)


In other news, Luis Garcia has reminded people that he has never played for Liverpool by publicly opposing a rotation system.

Today, Luis Garcia talked about rotations and the overloaded calendar. The forward is not in favor of them but clarified that it is the coach's decision to rest players. "Personally, I don't like the rotations. I'm fit and I only hope that I don't get injured, so that I can give the maximum for Espanyol and help the team, said Luis Garcia, that he is the fourth player of the group that more minutes has disputed and that it has not been affected by the changes in the alignments of the technician, Ernesto Valverde.

El Mundo Deportivo link (in Spanish)



The new stadium at Cornellá de Llobregat y el Prat de Llobregat is also getting on, with Espanyol confirming that one year from now, the new stadium will be completed. Three years ago, Daniel Sanchez Llibre told workers: "You can begin, already," and the first piece of earth was dug for a new home for the club to replace the beloved Sarria. Espanyol have spent 53 million euros building the new ground (which is not a lot of money - so either good value for money or it'll be a spartan ground) and will be looking for a sponsor to pay for the stadium's name, although Llibre and fans have unofficially called it the Nou Sarria. Capacity will be around 40,000, leaving open the possibility of Espanyol hosting UEFA Cup finals in the futre and Spanish international games.

We ain't dead yet

Hola i bon dia, I'm helping RCDEL relaunch this blog as the premier English language website for Espanyol. Of course, being the premier English language website for Espanyol is something like being the best footballer in my flat - damning with faint praise.

Anyway, what we're going to try and do again is provide news, match reports and some stuff relevant to English speakers for our favourite Spanish football club - Espanyol. Updates of when Espanyol will be on TV in the United Kingdom and the United States, where to buy Espanyol shirts online or in shops (I bet you didn't know you could buy the new away shirt in London), bars to watch Spanish football in the UK and ways to go watch Espanyol live. We'll also try and prime you (and possibly ourselves) on Espanyol's history and the new stadium at Cornella-El Prat de Llobregat, which will finally see the club back in a home of their own. If we're really ambitious, we might get some of the people who cover La Liga for English speakers to drop by and talk about Espanyol, as well as link up with other Espanyol fan clubs for discussions.

A reveure,

Flynnie

Last week... RCD Espanyol 0 - 1 Real Valladolid

Oh well. Third time in a row that RCDE manages to lose at home with a newly promoted team on the first day of the season. Fifth time in a row that the first game of the season is at home and it's not a win. Business as usual then. At least neutrals said it wasn't such a bad game. RCDE fans all concur and say it was awful. In my opinion it was bound to happen when we had too many pieces out of position. Even more when Valverde tried those changes during the preseason and they didn't seem to work.

Anyway, this created a bit of an earthquake and names of different strikers were thrown around, but none was signed. Nevermind that the problem seemed to be in the "team" and not the striker (i.e. you can only score the chances you get). Nobody is coming, which is probably for the better.

RCD Espanyol: Kameni, Zabaleta, Jarque, Torrejón, Chica, Lola (62'), Moisés, Coro (58'), Valdo, Riera (78'), Luis García
Lafuente, Clemente, Lacruz, Ángel (62'), Moha, Jónatas (58'), Jonathan (78')

Real Valladolid: Butelle, P. López, G. Calvo, Rafa, Marcos, V. Dorado, Borja, Sisi (90'), Sesma (78'), Kome (87'), Llorente
Alberto, Cifu (90'), Sánchez, Ogbeche (78'), Camacho (87'), Kike, Estoyanoff

Goal: 0-1 (55'): Kome crosses from the right and Llorente scores.

Referee: Fernández Borbalán
Yellow cards: García Calvo (50'), Moisés Hurtado (66'), Zabaleta (68'), Chica (81') Ogbeche (83')
Attendance: A meagre 16.225 (with just about 50 Valladolid fans). August for you and me.

RIP Antonio Puerta

After four days of battle the Sevilla FC defender Antonio Puerta has passed away.

It really puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

Requiescat in Pace.

Photograph: rcdespanyol.com

Wot?

What is this?

Well, what it isn't going to be is a personal blog.

The original idea is an attempt to try to do let people know about the news and other things of RCD Espanyol de Barcelona... in English. Last year I started realising that people were very interested in knowing about Espanyol but had no real means to do so. So here it is, updated several times a week, at least via short news stories. If you can help, please say so.

On the other hand, I have actually found other pericos (budgies... fellow Espanyol supporters) in North London during the last couple of months. So if you are in London and want to meet, please say so.

So that's about it, for now.

Let's fly!